Iraq participates in Fitur International Tourism Exhibition

Baghdad - INA

The Iraqi Travel and Tourism Companies Association participated today, Wednesday, with an official pavilion in the Fitur Madrid International Tourism Exhibition.

A statement by the association received by the Iraqi News Agency (INA) stated that "in continuation of the visit of Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani and the government delegation to the Spanish capital, Madrid, during which economic and tourism relations between the two countries were strengthened, the Association of Travel and Tourism Companies in Iraq, along with the Ministry of Culture and the Tourism Authority, participated in the Fitur Madrid International Tourism Exhibition."

It added that "participation with an official pavilion representing the Republic of Iraq is the first of its kind," noting that "a number of travel, tourism and hotel companies from various Iraqi governorates and the Kurdistan Region of Iraq participated in the pavilion."

Minister of Culture, Tourism and Antiquities Ahmed Fakak Al-Badrani said, according to the statement: "Iraq's participation in the Fitur Madrid exhibition represents a turning point in the ministry's program aimed at opening the country to the global tourism level, and highlighting its most important historical, archaeological and religious tourism landmarks, through the facilities that the government has worked on to support incoming tourism to the country."

For his part, the head of the Association of Travel and Tourism Companies in Iraq, Haider Amer Al-Dajili, stated that "the administrative body of the association has worked over the past months, in coordination with the Iraqi Embassy in Madrid, the Ministry of Culture and the Tourism Authority, to participate in the association with an official pavilion representing Iraq for the first time, to enhance the role of the private sector that works to invest in the launch of Baghdad's activities as the capital of Arab tourism and make Iraq a global tourism destination that attracts all tourists from different countries of the world."

Al-Dajili pointed out that "the association has concluded memoranda of understanding, and contracts and tourism programs have been signed between foreign companies and Iraqi companies participating in the pavilion," indicating that "during the next stage, we will aim to market and promote the most important historical, cultural and archaeological landmarks in the land of Mesopotamia."